Food Stamp Restrictions to Hit 18,000 in Hamilton County

Gov. John Kasich’s refusal to seek
another waiver for federal regulations on food stamps will force 18,000
current recipients in Hamilton County to meet work requirements if they
want the benefits to continue.

Under federal law, “able-bodied”
childless adults receiving food stamps are required to work or attend
work training for 20 hours a week. But when the Great Recession began,
the federal government handed out waivers to all states, including Ohio,
so they could provide food assistance without placing burdens on
underemployed and unemployed populations.

Kasich isn’t asking for a renewal of that waiver, which means
134,000 Ohioans in most Ohio counties, including 18,000 in Hamilton
County, will have to meet the 20-hours-per-week work requirement to get
their $200 a month in food aid starting in January, after recipients go through a three-month limit on benefits for those not meeting the work requirements.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family
Services explained earlier in September that the waiver is no longer
necessary in all but 16 counties because Ohio’s economy is now
recovering.

Related content

Two weeks later, the August jobs report put Ohio’s
unemployment rate at a one-year high of 7.3 percent.

At the same time, the federal government
appears ready to allow stimulus funding for food stamp programs to
expire in November. The extra money was adopted in the onset of the
Great Recession to provide increased aid to those hit hardest by the
economic downturn.

That means 18,000 food stamp recipients
in Hamilton County will have to meet a 20-hour-per-week work
requirements to receive $189 per month — $11 less than current levels —
for food aid starting in November. Assuming three meals a day, that adds
up to slightly more than $2 per meal.

Conservatives, especially Republicans,
argue the work requirements are necessary to ensure people don’t take
advantage of the welfare system to gain easy benefits. But progressives
are concerned the restrictions will unfairly hurt the poorest Ohioans
and the economy.

At the federal level, Republican
legislators, including local Reps. Steve Chabot and Brad Wenstrup, are
seeking further cuts to the food stamp program through H.R. 3102, which
would slash $39 billion over 10 years from the program. Part of the
savings in the bill come from stopping states from obtaining waivers on
work requirements.

The legislation is unlikely to make it through the U.S. Senate, and President Barack Obama promised to veto the bill if it comes to his desk.

Correction: This story previously said the restrictions start removing “able-bodied” childless adults from the rolls in October instead of January.